Ryan actually seemed pretty hungry. Once he’d polished off a bowl of rice, he popped his meds.
I glanced around the place – it was so peaceful, not a hint of noise anywhere.
“Don’t you have class or something?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I’m going back to school tomorrow,” Ryan replied. “What, you think I came to Shaville because I flunked out?”
I chuckled. “With your family, it doesn’t really matter where you go to school. Staying safe is what matters.”
Ryan laughed too. “I’m actually a pretty good student. I just came to Shaville for my own reasons.”
I nodded, taking his word for it.
“Sorry for making you come all this way. Do you think I’m being silly?” Ryan shot me a quick, almost shy glance as he asked.
“Not at all. Just get better soon,” I reassured him.
Ryan slouched onto the couch, eyes half-closed. “Relax, I’m not dying or anything. But honestly, I’m about to get depressed if I keep staying in. I just want to go out and do something fun.”
“Where do you want to go?” I asked with a smile.
“I want to go on an adventure, head out to the middle of nowhere, climb a snowy mountain, go scuba diving…” Ryan’s eyes lost their spark. “But in reality, they won’t even let me drive my own car.”
I looked at the good-looking young man in front of me and thought, ‘When someone’s protected to this extent, it’s no wonder they’d go stir-crazy.’
“If this keeps up, I feel like I’m going to have a breakdown. I’m starting to feel like a total freak,” Ryan said, sadness in his eyes as he looked at me. “At first, they wouldn’t even let me go to Hachester to see you. They even control my every move. But you… you’re like a light that keeps drawing me in.”
I just stared at him, totally at a loss for words.
Ryan looked at me. “You probably never imagined I have to negotiate just to see you.”
I was so shocked I couldn’t even speak. I always thought Ryan was free to come and go as he pleased, but I never realized there were so many restrictions behind the scenes. Who would’ve thought things were like this?
Ryan looked at me, almost dazed. “Victoria, if I said I wanted you, they’d have you delivered to me before you could blink. Can you believe that?”
“Who are ‘they’?” I asked, my breath hitched, and it felt like my whole reality was crumbling. It was like Ryan and I existed in totally separate realities.
“They’re all kinds of people – power chasers, profiteers, even those who worship it like a religion,” Ryan said with a bitter laugh. Then he added, “I’d never let them lay a finger on you. You’re the only one I don’t want to just claim whenever I feel like it.”
A cold shiver crept down my back, and I found myself gripping my palm tight without even realizing it.
Ryan caught the tension in my eyes, guilt written all over his face. “You said you didn’t want to dig into my past, but I want you to know more about me.”
“The more I find out, the more hopeless it feels,” I said, half joking. “Honestly, who really gets to do whatever they want?”
“But not many people are locked down like I am,” Ryan replied. “I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat. Would you ever want to be me?”
I blinked and shook my head right away. “Nope. If you don’t have freedom, what’s the point of having everything else?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I guess you finally understand what it’s like for me.”
I was starting to get what his life was like – surrounded by power and privilege, but forced to keep everything on the down-low. Living at both extremes like that would drive any guy in his early twenties totally nuts.
“Come upstairs with me. I’ll play something for you on the piano, okay?” Ryan said, grinning like a kid who couldn’t wait to show off his skills.
I nodded and went up with him. Out of nowhere, the crisp sound of wind chimes drifted in from the balcony, ringing clear and bright.
Ryan stepped into the piano room, and right next to it was an art studio – the walls were covered with his paintings: landscapes, oceans, flowers, trees, you name it.
I only took a quick look from the doorway before the gentle melody of the piano floated out from the other room.